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Khosla Ventures CERTIFIED

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Firm Rating:

Rated 2.7 / 5.0 by 28

TrackRecord

2.8

OperatingCompetence

3.1

PitchingEfficiency

3.0

FavorableDeal Terms

2.0

ExecutionAssistance

2.9

Firm Homepage:

FIRM OVERVIEW: Medium Private VC founded in 2004 based out of Menlo Park, USA (US West)

We got a cold email from an associate after he saw an article, talked a bit more over email, then set a time to meet. The meeting went well but we're fairly early so I didn't sweat it. Then we got a call back for a meeting with Vinod a couple weeks later - great.

Vinod was direct and moves quickly (like the speed of dialogue in West Wing - you had better keep up), but he was quite respectful. I hate talking to VCs that just sit there on their phones and only half listen, but Vinod actually engaged with us. Yes, there were some tough questions... but I would be more concerned if there were just a bunch of softballs. There are comments on here about Vinod being an ass, but we certainly did not experience that. Even if we had, I'm not looking for a friend. I'm looking for someone that will write a small check now so I can write them a really fucking big check in 5-10 years. In the meantime, I expect them to ask difficult questions, challenge me and my company to do better, and help out with whatever skills and non-monetary resources they can.

I'm not sure what, if anything, will come from this but I had as good of an experience as I could have expected. Obviously, I'd love to get a term sheet or another meeting, like, yesterday. So far they seem to move on the same timeline as other VCs we've talked with - unless you're doing a hot round, it can just take some time. The staff and associates we've talked to are all very professional and seem easy to work with - bodes well if we do move forward.

Posted by
voyager1
on 2013-12-11

PUBLIC:

My company just pitched to dozens in VCs in the valley. We received substantial backing from numerous establish VCs.

Looking back, my worst experience was with Euan at Kholsa. He was very late to the meeting, and he had to leave early too. In addition, he spent the entire meeting on his cell phone, occasionally looking up to murmur off things about Kholsa's rigid theses. He went on and on about how we didn't send him our deck ahead of time.

At least he gave us a curt pass email after the meeting -- and another forced request for us to send over our full deck.

I've spoken with many other credible startups that have pitched to Euan / Kholsa. It sounds like this is a pattern. Under no circumstances will we ever take money from these guys. Also, I hear that Vinod is a holy terror.

With so many investments and so few partners its hard to see how KV adds any value. Science experiments (read 'early stage ventures') need hands on support from partners with relevant domain expertise. Read the CV's and there is none of that here. An occassional and casual board appearance simply doesn't cut it. And when the early valuation gets driven into the dirt (wait till you negotiate with KV) there is little equity left to make founders want to get out of bed each day.

Here is a greedy and thinly spread strategy that simply doesn't work. With no successes and now using Calpers pensions to throw good money after bad seems so disrespectful to those hardworking Americans whose lifetime saved pensions were so hard won.

Adding value to an investment requires so much more than simply creating hype.

I have been the CEO of 5 start-ups, so I have been horsed around by the big boys more than a few times.....but this is a classic.

Pitched him while he was on a speaker fone, in the car, had not read the exec summary, had not looked at the power pt - wind noise was high, conversation garbled, questions repeated, totally distracted, no continuity -- it ends with the following -

We are very interested, please send me all your patent filings so I can show them to your competitor to see if he thinks your technology will work --- I told him fine, no problem, the pre-money is 85M and then I heard a scream, crashing glass, squealing tires and then silence....

Posted by
Virtualpro
on 2007-06-19

PUBLIC:

Khosla Ventures speaks of a willingness to reach a settlement respecting Virtual Pro's rights in technology in which it is interested. While employing the services of Fenwick & West to crush these rights in a legal assult employing every procedural trick, attempting to outspend a small enterpreneurial company into submission.